Feeling the joie de vivre

St. Boniface

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/01/2025 (575 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With Festival du Voyageur a little more than two weeks away, hundreds of volunteers are busy preparing for the iconic winter showcase that depends so much on their collective contribution.

This year’s Festival will run from Friday, Feb. 14 to Sunday, Feb. 23, and, at press time, there were still volunteer positions available in a number of areas, said Chantal Vielfaure, Festival du Voyageur’s director of marketing, communications and sales .

Organizers are aiming for a total of 700 volunteers to be safe and to ensure all their bases are covered. As of Jan. 22, just shy of 600 people had signed up.

Current available positions include eco-voyageurs, where participants lend a hand sorting beverage cans and helping with the recycling process as part of FDV’s sustainability efforts; and fire attendants, who keep a close eye at each of the event’s outdoor fires and help keep them going.

“We’re also looking for to people to help us out with our 50/50 draw, which we did for the first time last year,” Vielfaure said, noting the minimum age for volunteers is 18. “The 50/50 volunteers get to walk around the park and inside the different tents to help up raise funds for Festival.”

Vielfaure said the typical volunteer profile varies across the board, as there are many longtime volunteers who return year after year, as well as plenty of newcomers, especially since Festival has returned to in-person programming since COVID-19.

“Post-pandemic, we’re seeing lots of new volunteers, and some have been involved with us for 20 or 25 years,” she said. “As well, lots of new people arriving in Winnipeg to live and want to be part of it.”

Vielfaure said some returning volunteers try out different roles form year to year to enhance their experience: “They feel the joie de vivre, and want to experience it again.”

“If you’ve never volunteered, or are thinking of volunteering, this is the year to try it,” Vielfaure said, emphasizing the importance of Festival’s collective volunteer base to the cause. “It would be really, really difficult to offer a festival of this scale without their support.”

She noted, too, that being a non-French speaker shouldn’t be a barrier for anyone considering joining the team, as volunteers include bilingual, French-speaking and English-speaking folks.

Registered volunteers will take part in an orientation session on Feb. 9, so prospective participants should ideally be signed up by Feb. 5 or earlier, Vielfaure said.

Visit heho.ca for more information.